“Young man, as you grow older, you’ll find that you can’t burn the candle at both ends.”

Pinky’s response is to reach into his coat and pull out a candle ... with a flame at each end.

Groucho’s character is speaking figuratively; Harpo’s character is taking it literally.

As a figure of speech, “burn the candle at both ends” means “to work very hard and stay up very late at night,” as defined by McGraw-Hill’s “American Idioms Dictionary.” By way of further explanation, it says the phrase implies that “one end of the candle is work done in the daylight, and the other end is work done at night.”

People often say or write the word “literally” when they mean “figuratively.” It can make for some unintentionally amusing or even graphic imagery. For example, consider a report that a development opportunity literally had fallen into the lap of local officials.

Obviously, there is no actual communal lap. I don’t even want to think about what that might be. But figuratively, “fall (or drop) into one’s lap” means for something positive “to be given or granted to someone without having been requested.”

That’s another definition from the McGraw-Hill idioms book. Let’s look at several expressions from just a portion of that book’s “B” section.

When someone is described as “blind as a bat,” it could mean that person is literally blind, even though bats really aren’t. But as a figurative expression of visual acuity, it means “not able to see well.”

It doesn’t even have to be about eye functions. “Blind as a bat” also can be applied to someone “unwilling to recognize problems or bad things.”

How about some phrases that we can sink our teeth into? (Of course, it won’t really involve our teeth.)

“Bite someone’s head off.” Perhaps in science fiction or horror stories this could be taken literally.

But for our purposes, it’s a figurative expression for “to speak sharply and with great anger to someone.”

“Bite one’s tongue.” It means “to struggle not to say something that you really want to say.” Literally biting your tongue would probably actually make you say something, beginning with “Ouch!”

“Bite the hand that feeds one.” This could happen if your pet is really hungry, but it probably would be an accident. Figuratively, it means “to do harm to someone who does good things for you.”

“Bite off more than one can chew.” Literally, this would be “to take a larger mouthful of food than one can chew easily or comfortably.” Figuratively, it’s “to take (on) more than one can deal with,” “to be overconfident.”

This reminds me of the phrase “one’s eyes are bigger than one’s stomach” — for when we order or put on a plate more than we can eat. Taken literally, it’s a frightening image, enough to even spoil a person’s appetite.

At the very least, I hope I’ve reduced your appetite for putting “literally” where it doesn’t belong.